


Years Gone By

by UmbreonGurl



Category: League of Legends
Genre: Alternate Universe - K/DA (League of Legends), Costume parties, F/F, no beta we die like your inting teammates, putting makeup on each other but like in a sexy way, the inherent homoeroticism of monster girls mixed with halloween
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-06
Updated: 2020-11-06
Packaged: 2021-03-08 17:40:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27420601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UmbreonGurl/pseuds/UmbreonGurl
Summary: Even after thousands of years, Evelynn never changes. It's part of the reason Ahri always finds herself coming back.
Relationships: Ahri/Evelynn (League of Legends)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 104





	Years Gone By

**Author's Note:**

> Ahri's ruined king armor got me actin strange okay

It’s been a long time since Ahri has last worn armor—let alone this particular set. She can’t remember exactly how many years it’s been, but it’s definitely at least a few hundred (probably three or four, if she had to guess.)

Unlike many things, the armor hasn’t changed a bit. The thrum of magic in the fabric has not faded in the least, and the woven pieces around her stomach practically vibrate under her fingertips as she slips it on. Piece by piece, layer by layer, the outfit slowly comes together, and it fits just as well as it did the first time Ahri had put it on—like a glove, like _home._

It’s honestly a shame she can’t pull it out more often, but getups like these just don’t tend to fly anymore anywhere outside of costume parties. (It feels like just yesterday such wear was commonplace, when people still carried swords on their hips and rode around on horseback.) 

The modern era has brought its fair share of improvements—in technology and architecture and high fashion—but they just don’t make stuff the way they used to anymore. There’s no more flying carpets or haunted necklaces or enchanted weapons, but that doesn’t stop the world from turning and the sun from rising and setting.

Ahri is snapped out of her thoughts by a series of loud knocks on her door.

“Yo, Ahri, are you almost ready?” Akali calls from outside, audibly excited. (It makes sense, considering Halloween has always been one of her favorite holidays.)

“Almost,” Ahri replies. She still hasn’t done her makeup yet. “I’ll be good to go in a few minutes.”

“Well I suggest you hurry then, because Evelynn is getting kinda antsy to leave.” 

Ahri knows Evelynn well. When Akali says that she’s antsy to leave, it’s probably an understatement. For her, being to a party anything less than five minutes early is akin to being late— _unacceptable._

“I’ll handle Eve if she gets pissy,” Ahri calls back. “She knows as well as all of us that you don’t rush art.”

“You’re riding with her, then. I’m not risking it.”

“That’s fine.”

“If you say so.” Akali sounds decidedly unconvinced, but she knows better than to push it further. “I’ll see you there, then?”

“Yup.”

Ahri knows Akali has left by the sound of retreating footsteps. She’s light on her feet, so it’s barely audible, but the sound is still there nonetheless. It’s a stark contrast to Evelynn, who all but materializes from thin air behind Ahri a few minutes after Akali leaves.

“My, my, gumiho, when you said you were going old-school this year, I didn’t think you meant _this_ old.” Evelynn leans down to rest her head dangerously close to Ahri’s shoulder. “When was the first time I saw you in this? Rome?”

Ahri meets Evelynn’s gaze in the mirror as she sets the eyeliner pencil she had been using aside. For someone calling _her_ costume old-school, her demon outfit isn’t exactly a new concept either—lord knows every Halloween store in existence has about twenty different variants of the idea at any given time.

“It was Constantinople, actually, if I remember correctly.”

Evelynn huffs and Ahri can feel her breath on her neck before she takes a step back. “I believe it’s called Istanbul now, _grandma_ , get with the times.”

Ahri raises an eyebrow. “Grandma? Don’t go around throwing stones when you live in a glass castle, princess. I’m not the one with any gray hairs here.”

“I think I’ve long since upgraded to _queen_ , love. There are still paintings of my face in the archives of quite a few palaces, if I’m not mistaken,” Evelynn retorts, before bringing a hand to her chin and studying Ahri’s face intently. “As far as the gray hairs go, if you keep taking so long with your makeup, you may grow some of your own. You haven’t even done your mascara yet, have you?”

“No,” Ahri admits. “But that won’t take much time at all. Just a swipe or two and I should be good.”

“Perfect,” Evelynn replies, without missing a beat. “Go ahead, swipe away. I’ll wait.”

Evelynn’s eyes follow Ahri’s every move closely. _Move any slower and see what happens,_ her gaze all but screams. Some animal part of Ahri takes it as a challenge, and it causes her to promptly pick up the tube of mascara sitting on the dresser and drop it on the floor.

“Oh no,” she says, looking towards Evelynn with a deceptively innocent smile. “Would you look at that, it seems I dropped it. My bad, I’m a bit clumsy today.”

“Are you now.” Evelynn’s tone remains calm and collected, and it is only the ever-so-slight narrowing of her eyes that gives away her annoyance. “We can’t have that, now can we?”

Before Ahri can lean down to pick up the tube of mascara, the tail-end of a single lasher makes its way to the floor and grabs it. Ahri looks towards Evelynn for an explanation, but all she receives at first is a small, amused smile. 

Then the other lasher wraps its way around Ahri’s hand, gently bringing it forward and uncurling her fingers.

“With you being so clumsy today, we wouldn’t want you to fall.” The mascara tube is dropped in Ahri’s open palm. “I figured I’d help you out a bit.”

Like snakes, Evelynn’s lashers quickly slither back behind her shoulders. Shortly after, she crosses her arms across her chest and returns to her observations. The room is her chessboard, and she is a grandmaster who can read Ahri’s moves ten steps ahead of time. Evelynn is quite the strategist, yes, but Ahri always matches her play for play.

Ahri closes her fingers around the tube of makeup before bringing it up to eye level. She locks eyes with Evelynn as she slowly lifts one finger off of it, then two, and then all of them—and the mascara falls to the floor once again.

This time, there is no mistaking it for an accident.

“Oops. My hand slipped.”

Ahri’s hand most certainly did not slip, and both of them know it. It’s petty, sure, but it’s fun, an echo of the times they had met—and the games they had played— in years long past.

The proverbial ball is in Evelynn’s court now—and in typical Evelynn fashion, she goes straight for the half-court three-pointer.

“Must I always clean up your messes?” Springing to action in an instant, Evelynn leans down and picks the container up with an exaggerated sigh. “Take a seat and look towards me. I’ll do it.”

Truth be told, Ahri already _was_ looking towards her; Evelynn has a way of drawing eyes to her like a magnet—once she has a hold on your attention, she never lets it go. Apparently, though, that is not good enough.

Evelynn tuts at her when she doesn’t move fast enough, clarifying her earlier statement. “On the chair,” she orders, nodding towards a nearby stool. 

Ahri takes a seat, and Evelynn’s face is suddenly all too close to her own for comfort, staring right into her soul. (If she even has one.)

“Eyes down.” 

Ahri almost wants to make some snarky comment about how Evelynn is too pretty to look away from, but she has no time to. 

The mascara bottle is opened with a small _click_. Moments later a cool hand reaches towards Ahri’s brow, thumb lightly pulling her right eyelid upwards. Evelynn’s nails are long, poking into Ahri’s skin slightly as she works, but it’s never enough to hurt—Evelynn is far too careful for that. 

Evelynn is not always soft touches and sweet words—she can just as easily be claws and shadows and smoke—but she is always careful about the when and where with the latter. Now is not one of those times.

“There,” says Evelynn, leaning back and surveying her work. She looks Ahri up and down like an artist who had just put the final touches on their masterpiece. “Look at that. You look stunning, Ahri.”

The way Evelynn says the word is addicting—not kitten, not darling or love or dear— _Ahri._

“I’d certainly hope so, considering this is what I used to wear on the daily for a while.” Ahri pauses, and in a snap of her fingers, the layer of magic on her tail that makes it look like a living jewel fades, giving way to off-white fur. “Minus the makeup, of course. We didn’t have the same brands back then.”

Evelynn hums. “We made do.”

“That we did,” Ahri agrees, looking herself up and down in the mirror appraisingly. “I do quite like the new stuff, though.”

“Me too,” Evelynn agrees. “Now if you’re done parading yourself in front of the mirror like a narcissist, you’ve already made us late. I’d like to get going sometime soon.”

“Yeah, yeah, you big baby, we’ll be _at most_ two minutes late. What a tragedy.” Ahri checks the time on her phone before smiling. “Probably not even. Besides, you know as well as I do the party never starts until we show up.”

“It’s still rude to keep people waiting for the main event.”

“I suppose that’s true.” Ahri hums. “I’m ready to go if you are.”

Evelynn’s face curls into a wolfish grin. “Darling, I was _born_ ready. I’ve simply been waiting for you to catch up.”

* * *

The ride over is quiet, but the atmosphere in the car is damn near _suffocating._

Ahri tries to distract herself from it by staring out the window and mindlessly scrolling through her Twitter feed, but no matter what she does her focus is always forcibly brought back to the woman sitting in the driver’s seat just a few feet away.

She swears that she catches Evelynn watching her once out of the corner of her eye, but Eve’s focus returns to the road far too quickly for Ahri to tell whether she’s just imagining it. Considering Eve’s habit of driving far too fast to be safe, it’s probably for the best that she keeps her focus on driving anyways. 

(That doesn’t stop Ahri from wanting it to happen again, though. Evelynn’s attention is like a fire, burning her very bones down to charcoal until they lie ready and waiting to catch a spark of it again.)

Every moment in the passenger seat feels like an hour, and even though Ahri knows it hasn’t actually been that long, by the time she gets her feet on solid ground again it feels as if she’d just finished a cross-country road trip.

The cool autumn wind is sobering, and it gives Ahri just enough time to catch her breath as she makes her way to the entrance of the club. 

One would think that the crowds would be overwhelming, but Ahri finds it far easier to breathe here than the car when she can dodge Evelynn’s eyes and bury herself among the sea of people. Granted, there’s far fewer people here than normal, the dance floor filled with exclusively invited guests and VIPs, but there’s still more than enough to get lost in the energy of it all. 

A glance around and she can easily see some familiar faces. Sona sends Ahri a wave from behind the turntable, dressed in a toga with an olive branch perched on her head like some sort of Greek goddess. Ahri waves back, and Sona smiles before turning her attention back towards the mountain of switches and levers that keep the party alive.

Akali’s easy to spot busy hopping around with Ekko on the dance floor (the former in a tiger onesie and the latter in what appears to be a cowboy outfit), and it’s clear from the way she smiles and her chest heaves that she’s having fun. Honestly, good for her. True Damage was a great experience for Akali, and Ahri’s glad that she’s started to branch out a bit and do some more stuff all on her own. 

Kai’Sa hangs by the bar, nursing a drink with Sivir right by her side. Kai’Sa looks decidedly out of her comfort zone in a SuperGirl getup, but Sivir wears her Wonder Woman outfit like she was born for it, muscles on full display for all to see. Ahri doesn’t know enough about superheroes to know if they’re matching costumes, but it’s entirely obvious to anyone with eyes that they’re a couple by the way Sivir’s arm rests comfortably around Kai’Sa’s shoulder.

“Yo, Ahri, you look _sick!_ ” Akali all but tackles Ahri from behind, arms wrapping around her middle in a hug before letting go. “No wonder you took so long, that armor’s insane. Like— _dude._ Is it custom made? It has to be, right?”

Akali’s mouth moves a mile a minute, and it takes Ahri a moment to catch up.

“Yes, it’s custom made,” Ahri confirms. _I had it crafted long before you were ever born._

“That’s sweet!” Akali looks around and frowns. “Wait, where’s Eve? You rode with her, yeah?”

“I did, yes, and I don’t know.” It’s the truth—Ahri _doesn’t_ know. Evelynn had faded into the crowd like smoke in the wind soon after they had arrived. “I lost track of her soon after we got here.”

A shrug. “She’s probably around somewhere, then. You know how she is at parties.” Akali looks like she wants to say more, but something catches her attention from across the room. “Oh shit, Qiyana’s finally here, I gotta go say hi—I’ll catch you later!”

“Later,” Ahri replies, but Akali probably can’t even hear her anymore. 

As if sensing she was spoken of, the devil herself—fake horns and all—appears.

“You know, if you were looking for me, you could have just asked.”

Ahri almost jumps as she turns around.

“I wasn’t looking for you. Akali was, and she did ask.”

Evelynn cuts through the lie with ease, eyes all but glowing in the dark. “Are you sure about that? The fact you said you… how did you put it? _Lost track_ of my whereabouts implies you were keeping track of them in the first place.”

In a well practiced routine, Ahri quickly falls victim to the spell of the music. “It was a figure of speech, Eve. Don’t read too far into it. Do keep in mind that you’ve always been the one to chase after me, not the other way around.”

“That was then. We don’t live in the past; things change, gumiho.”

“True, but not everything.” Ahri’s hands find their way onto Evelynn’s shoulders as if they have a mind of their own. “I personally think that one’s stayed the same.”

Evelynn’s own hands wind their way towards Ahri’s lower back in return. “The fact you can’t seem to keep your hands to yourself would seem to disagree.” 

The bass runs through Ahri like liquid courage. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re the handsy one here, not me.” 

“Sure.” Evelynn scoffs. “Next thing you’ll say I hated the thirties.”

“You did,” Ahri points out. “You just liked the cars, is all.”

“Of course. They had style. The cars were the only redeeming thing about that decade.” Evelynn raises an eyebrow. “Your point?”

“You’re not really doing a great job at convincing me you _didn’t_ hate the thirties, Eve.”

“I don’t need to. It’s a fact.” Evelynn’s fingers tighten and the ends of her claws poke a little too far inwards for comfort. “You’re thinking about things too much.”

“Am I?” Ahri asks, and she’s just as much asking herself as she is Evelynn. 

“Yes, and it’s distracting.” One of Evelynn’s hands makes its way up towards Ahri’s face and gently pushes her chin upwards until they’re eye to eye. “Stop thinking and dance. Pretend it’s seven hundred years ago if you have to.”

The way Evelynn says the words leaves no room for argument, but Ahri wiggles her way into the cracks anyways. 

“But it’s not. As you said, Constantinople is long gone.”

“The memories live on in us.” Evelynn smiles. “Humor me. For old time’s sake, let yourself _go.”_

Evelynn’s energy weaves its way past Ahri’s defenses, running through her veins like a drug. _Give in,_ it urges her. _Just listen to what I say and everything will be fine._

If Ahri were any other person, these would be the last things she’d ever think. But it’s a dog eat dog world, and she is _hungry._

Ahri lets go. The rest of the party is a blur after that.

**Author's Note:**

> So. 
> 
> I was halfway through Food for Thought when riot dropped that post with Ahri and Evelynn holding hands. Then they dropped Ahri's ruined king appearance, and an idea IMMEDIATELY formed in my brain: to make Ahri wear that armor as a Halloween costume. 
> 
> Eve and Ahri have this sort of relationship I feel like where they're constantly pushing each other's buttons, testing the limits of just how far they can push each other. I'm still such a sucker for Akalynn but man pretty much any way KDA can hold hands I am listening, and smthn abt monster girls just chillin and bein ancient together makes my heart go doki doki.
> 
> For snippets, updates on what I'm working on, and a shit ton of art retweets, feel free to check out my [twitter.](https://twitter.com/UmbreonGurl)


End file.
